Why would a company seek to enjoin a practice that generates money for the company? Perhaps if opposing that practice would generate money for lawyers. That's what Techdirt suggests is behind the latest takedown notice Wal-Mart's law firm, Baker & Hostetler, sent to Searchalldeals.com, a site that aggregates information on store deals. The site recently posted a Wal-Mart Black Friday circular, which Wal-Mart contends violates copyright law -- even though the postings actually help Wal-Mart by increasing business.

So, we have Wal-Mart, whose employees think deal sites are helpful, getting its lawyers to send out bogus takedown notices over content that isn't copyrighted, and then sending them to search engines that don't even host the content in question. It makes you wonder how much the lawyers are charging Wal-Mart... and if the fees are being paid out of the legal budget, or the marketing and promotions budget.

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Wal-Mart's Full Employment Act for Lawyers

Why would a company seek to enjoin a practice that generates money for the company? Perhaps if opposing that practice would generate money for lawyers. That's what Techdirt suggests is behind the latest takedown notice Wal-Mart's law firm, Baker & Hostetler, sent to Searchalldeals.com, a site that aggregates information on store deals. The site recently posted a Wal-Mart Black Friday circular, which Wal-Mart contends violates copyright law -- even though the postings actually help Wal-Mart by increasing business.

So, we have Wal-Mart, whose employees think deal sites are helpful, getting its lawyers to send out bogus takedown notices over content that isn't copyrighted, and then sending them to search engines that don't even host the content in question. It makes you wonder how much the lawyers are charging Wal-Mart... and if the fees are being paid out of the legal budget, or the marketing and promotions budget.